Come to Me in Dreams Reviewed in Cleveland's The Plain Dealer
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Hope shines through in stories of Holocaust
REVIEW Cleveland Opera Thursday, June 10, 2004
Donald Rosenberg
Plain Dealer Music Critic
The Nazis destroyed millions of lives, but they couldn't contain the thoughts and words of many who refused to lose hope. Cleveland Opera's final program of the season, playing at the Ohio Theatre through Sunday, brings some of those words to affecting and disturbing life. To mark the 75th anniversary of Anne Frank's birth Saturday, the company is presenting the double bill of Lori Laitman's "Come to Me in Dreams" (in its world premiere) and Grigori Frid's "The Diary of Anne Frank" (in its Ohio premiere).
Both works have striking features, especially "Come to Me in Dreams," a selection of Laitman songs tied together by David Bamberger, Cleveland Opera's retiring general director. Bamberger's scenario depicts the struggle of a Holocaust survivor to come to terms with the loss of his wife and a daughter. The texts for the 15 songs in "Come to Me in Dreams" are derived from various sources, including children who died in the Nazi concentration camp Theresienstadt (Terezin). Laitman's settings are exuberant, poignant and harrowing realizations, written with a musical poet's ear for expressive warmth, nuance and color.
Each of the characters is teamed tellingly with a different instrument: the anguished survivor is a baritone who sings with a penetrating, ominous double bass; the deceased wife is a soprano whose nostalgic and seductive utterances merge with the bright sonorities of a piano; and the lost child is a light soprano who explores feelings of innocence, fear and hope in tandem with a haunting saxophone. Laitman's songs and Bamberger's narrative - and the latter's sensitive, economical staging - evoke a series of troubling yet touching images. Although the characters never sing together, they are connected in time and space, as if they were never apart. As piano, saxophone and double bass merge for the only time in the final song, a sense of closure can be felt.
The production, with eloquent lighting by Izzy Einsidler, has a stellar ensemble. Sanford Sylvan's luxurious baritone and dramatic sincerity illuminate the survivor's journey. Fenlon Lamb's wife abounds in allure and sympathy, while Megan Tillman melds charm with compassion as the lost child and Sarah Renea Rucker is graceful in the nonspeaking role of the surviving child. The exceptional instrumentalists are pianist Judith Ryder, saxophonist Paul Cohen and bassist Maximilian Dimoff.
Frid's one-woman opera, based on passages from Anne Frank's diary, is more austere in musical language and impact. The work follows Anne as she reveals her thoughts about youth, love and the pathetic circumstances into which she and her family have been thrust.
The score is a piquant blend of 12-tone ideas, expressionistic writing and hints of jazz, with ample opportunity for the soprano as Anne to run the gamut of emotions. Dunja Pechstein is an ideal heroine, with a voice that conveys Anne's vulnerability and courage even as it traverses Frid's challenges with ease.
Every aspect of the production, from New York's Encompass New Opera Theatre, adds chilling detail to the claustrophobic aura. Nancy Rhodes has staged the work with a deft hand on Charles Townsend Wittreich Jr.'s stylized set, and Sybille Werner conducts the small orchestra in a crisp reading of Frid's score.
At the end of each opera, an observer is left to wonder anew at the depths to which mankind can sink - and at the heights to which the human spirit can soar.
Copyright 2004 cleveland.com. All Rights Reserved.
REVIEW Cleveland Opera Thursday, June 10, 2004
Donald Rosenberg
Plain Dealer Music Critic
The Nazis destroyed millions of lives, but they couldn't contain the thoughts and words of many who refused to lose hope. Cleveland Opera's final program of the season, playing at the Ohio Theatre through Sunday, brings some of those words to affecting and disturbing life. To mark the 75th anniversary of Anne Frank's birth Saturday, the company is presenting the double bill of Lori Laitman's "Come to Me in Dreams" (in its world premiere) and Grigori Frid's "The Diary of Anne Frank" (in its Ohio premiere).
Both works have striking features, especially "Come to Me in Dreams," a selection of Laitman songs tied together by David Bamberger, Cleveland Opera's retiring general director. Bamberger's scenario depicts the struggle of a Holocaust survivor to come to terms with the loss of his wife and a daughter. The texts for the 15 songs in "Come to Me in Dreams" are derived from various sources, including children who died in the Nazi concentration camp Theresienstadt (Terezin). Laitman's settings are exuberant, poignant and harrowing realizations, written with a musical poet's ear for expressive warmth, nuance and color.
Each of the characters is teamed tellingly with a different instrument: the anguished survivor is a baritone who sings with a penetrating, ominous double bass; the deceased wife is a soprano whose nostalgic and seductive utterances merge with the bright sonorities of a piano; and the lost child is a light soprano who explores feelings of innocence, fear and hope in tandem with a haunting saxophone. Laitman's songs and Bamberger's narrative - and the latter's sensitive, economical staging - evoke a series of troubling yet touching images. Although the characters never sing together, they are connected in time and space, as if they were never apart. As piano, saxophone and double bass merge for the only time in the final song, a sense of closure can be felt.
The production, with eloquent lighting by Izzy Einsidler, has a stellar ensemble. Sanford Sylvan's luxurious baritone and dramatic sincerity illuminate the survivor's journey. Fenlon Lamb's wife abounds in allure and sympathy, while Megan Tillman melds charm with compassion as the lost child and Sarah Renea Rucker is graceful in the nonspeaking role of the surviving child. The exceptional instrumentalists are pianist Judith Ryder, saxophonist Paul Cohen and bassist Maximilian Dimoff.
Frid's one-woman opera, based on passages from Anne Frank's diary, is more austere in musical language and impact. The work follows Anne as she reveals her thoughts about youth, love and the pathetic circumstances into which she and her family have been thrust.
The score is a piquant blend of 12-tone ideas, expressionistic writing and hints of jazz, with ample opportunity for the soprano as Anne to run the gamut of emotions. Dunja Pechstein is an ideal heroine, with a voice that conveys Anne's vulnerability and courage even as it traverses Frid's challenges with ease.
Every aspect of the production, from New York's Encompass New Opera Theatre, adds chilling detail to the claustrophobic aura. Nancy Rhodes has staged the work with a deft hand on Charles Townsend Wittreich Jr.'s stylized set, and Sybille Werner conducts the small orchestra in a crisp reading of Frid's score.
At the end of each opera, an observer is left to wonder anew at the depths to which mankind can sink - and at the heights to which the human spirit can soar.
Copyright 2004 cleveland.com. All Rights Reserved.